Page 68 of Death of a Grill Master

“Hayley! Come in. We’re just about to have dessert.”

“I won’t stay long,” she said quickly. “I know I’m interrupting.”

“Don’t be silly. You’re always welcome.”

She stepped inside, self-conscious as the conversation around the table hushed. Caleb Maddox turned slowly in his seat, his expression polite but guarded. Randy stood with a dessert plate in one hand and a smug look on his face.

“Well, well,” Randy said. “Look who finally decided to visit her favorite brother.”

Hayley glanced around. “Looks like quite the spread.”

“You missed the garlic-rosemary chicken,” Sergio said.

“And the roasted corn salad. But you’re just in time for my bourbon pecan pie bars. Or should I say your pecan pie bars. I used one of your recipes, by the way,” Randy added. Then, turning toward Maddox, he said, “She’s a regular Ina Garten, this one.”

Hayley smiled thinly, but her eyes were scanning the room.

Maddox sipped his coffee, watching her like a hawk.

“I actually just came from an impromptu kayaking trip,” she said.

Sergio’s eyes widened. “You went what now?”

Randy’s jaw dropped. “You? Kayaking?”

“I’m more athletic than I look,” she replied primly.

“You tripped over your own welcome mat last week,” Randy reminded her.

“One time!”

Maddox set his mug down. “Kayaking where?”

“Acadia,” she said. “Near Thunder Hole.”

Randy furrowed his brow. “That’s a weird spot to just go paddling.”

Hayley shrugged. “I was clearing my head. Ended up near a small cave in the rocks. And that’s when I found something.”

The table stilled.

“What kind of something?” Maddox asked.

Hayley hesitated, then slowly reached into her purse and pulled out the waterproof phone case. “It belongs to Tina Whitmore.”

Maddox narrowed his eyes. “You just … found it?”

“I didn’t know what it was at first,” she said, floundering. “I saw a glint, went closer …”

“And found that? In a sea cave?” Maddox interrupted.

“Not just this. I found other evidence,” she shot back. “That cave had gear in it. Tanks. A blanket. Snack wrappers. And that phone. But then someone showed up when I was there. I managed to hide without being seen. But it wasn’t Zane. This guy was taller, beefier, probably the same guy on the video.”

Maddox sat back in his chair. “What video?”

Oops.

“Um, well, we … I mean, I managed to gain access to the phone, and there was a video from the night Hank Desmond was shot and killed, and well, you should probably watch it and see for yourself.”